Thursday, March 28, 2024

Plans for dual booting Windows and ChromeOS scrapped as Project Campfire ends

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If you were excited about the prospect of being able to dual boot Windows 10 on Chromebooks, you may not want to get your hopes up just yet, as recent code updates in Chromium Gerrit indicate that Google is most likely canceling the one project that could have allowed to happen: Project Campfire.

According to About Chromebooks, Google’s change of heart with respect to Project Campfire was mentioned by a Reddit user after they noticed comments in Chromium Gerrit that indicate that Google decided to terminate the project.

Project Campfire is also known as AltOS and the comments in the project’s attached commit files on Gerrit have listed features associated with AltOS as “deprecated.” And as Chrome Unboxed reports, such features have even been listed as “removed.”

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While the much-requested Windows dual boot feature could have been a solid addition to future Chromebooks, it’s still unsurprising that Google ended Project Campfire. As 9to5Google notes, the project’s progress already began slowing down as early as last December. Also, it’s not like Google officially announced Campfire. That, coupled with the fact that, according to Chrome Unboxed, there “was no mention of Windows on ChromeOS” at this year’s I/O developer conference, makes it pretty safe to say that the cancellation of Project Campfire was inevitable.

Plus, Project Campfire, as a concept, no longer seems to be compatible with Google’s recent focus on developing its own ecosystem of apps and products. It’s possible that Google’s recent Linux announcement and the cancellation of Campfire happening around the same time isn’t just a coincidence. In fact, Google’s recent push to have all Chromebooks “Linux-ready” was officially announced at this year’s I/O conference. Engadget reports that Google’s Linux-ready Chromebooks, combined with new developer-friendly Chromebook updates may be part of an overall intent to encourage the development of more Android apps for ChromeOS.

After all, if Android app developers can run Linux, ChromeOS, and Android simultaneously on a Chromebook, it could boost Android app development for ChromeOS by making the app creation process easier. And Google has an incentive to make the Android app development process easier. As Engadget reports, over the past year, the number of monthly ChromeOS users who opted to use Android apps increased by 250%. And so, Google may have canceled Project Campfire to focus more resources on expanding its own family of products and services rather than reaching out to other operating systems like Windows.

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